There is currently no known single platform that can rapidly concentrate targeted agents in complex biological fluids (e.g. saliva, sweat, urine, blood, drinking water) and, with high specificity, detect these targeted agents. The diagnostic technology of the present invention, however, enables a single, cost-effective solution for the rapid nucleic acid recognition of low concentrations of pathogens (i.e. less than 1 pg/ml) in about 30 seconds in a compact modular device that is disposable and eco-friendly. This enables the rapid detection of wide variety of pathogens with high specificity for remote villages of third world countries, for example, where access to health care facilities is minimal or non-existent. This also enables the rapid monitoring of pathogens in drinking water, for example.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,278,297, 7,735,358, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/956,915, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/395,213 generally disclose a novel standing wave fiber technology that can be used for mixing, vortexing, sheparding, and detection applications in fluids. As used herein, these standing wave fibers are referred to as elastic wave detector (EwD) fibers. These EwD fibers enable the detection of low concentrations of bacteria (less than 1 pg/ml) in about 30 seconds in a compact, inexpensive, and disposable cartridge. A standing wave generated in the EwD fiber (about 9 microns in diameter and about 2 mm in length, for example) while immersed in a high-enrichment sample transfers its kinetic energy effectively into the liquid and produces vortex flow patterns in the microenvironment around the EwD fiber which cause the rapid migration of solutes (such as nucleic acids or proteins after lysing protocols) towards the EwD fiber, in seconds and without degradation. Hybridization rates of low concentrations of nucleic acids (less than about 0.1 ng/ml) are accelerated using EwD fibers to create homogenous mixing and enhanced bio-kinetics by inducing ultrasonic quadrupole vortices the sample. Importantly, oligonucleotide probes functionalized to the modulating EwD fibers rapidly hybridize the target as nucleic acids are captured close and bind specifically to the EwD fibers. A variety of detection methods are available. Thus, EwD fibers enable a single platform to concentrate, capture, and detect one or more bacterial genes simultaneously, at low concentrations, and permit purification and diagnostic methods that vastly exceed the speed, sensitivity, and specificity of currently-available platforms.